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Georges Laraque concedes Wayne Gretzky was one of the greatest players to ever play the game of hockey, but the former NHL heavyweight believes the Great One’s coaching abilities left something to be desired.

In his book, Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy, the former Edmonton Oilers winger says Gretzky was the worst coach he’s ever played for.

“It’s not that I’m analyzing his coaching ability, I was just analyzing all of the coaches I’ve had,” Laraque told Sun News. “I just said that Wayne was a great guy and one of the greatest players that ever played, but for me, he was one of the worst coaches I’ve ever had and I explain why in the book.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal, it’s just some guys like some coaches better than others and maybe some guys thought he was a good coach, but for me he was the worst. I don’t know why it’s creating so much controversy. For me I’m a guy that always speaks the truth and that’s the way I felt about it.”

Laraque, 34, played for the better part of 13 years in the NHL, the majority of it with the Oilers. He played for Gretzky during a brief spell in Phoenix with the Coyotes before moving on to play with the Pittsburgh Penguins and eventually the Montreal Canadiens.

His book is being released nation-wide this week.

“The thing is, people are taking it personally, they say it’s a personal attack,” Laraque said. “It’s just like me when I was a hockey player. Some people may not have liked me as a hockey player, but as a human being, as a person, it doesn’t change the person that I am today.

“I know I may have upset a lot of people, but I want to remind those people, that what I said is not a surprise to many people, a lot of people have said that. The media has said that and even the owners has said that, so it’s not a surprise that I said that. It’s such a minimal portion of the book, that it’s pretty sad that if the one thing that people want to remember is that, there are so many important thing that I’m talking about apart from the coaching I had throughout my career.”

Laraque’s career came to an abrupt end, when he was bought out by the Canadiens in 2010. Laraque retired shortly afterwards.

He has since dipped into the political world, joining the Green Party of Canada, going on to be named the party’s Male Deputy Leader.

It’s one of the many things Laraque talks about in his book. He is currently doing a book tour and will be in Edmonton on Thursday.

“I talk about the struggles, and the life of a fighter and what it’s like,” Laraque said. “But I talk about many things, I talk about politics, I talk about animal rights, about veganism, I talk about whatever is on my mind. It’s half hockey and half about other things. So people that don’t like hockey will still love it and those that do like hockey they’ll understand the role more.”